The Girl and The Sleuth hit Covent Garden

Well, I have to say, I think I got the easy end of the deal for the Covent Garden Market Stall that Eatlikeagirl and I did last week. After listening to her tell me about how she stayed up all night making soda bread (and it has to be the best soda bread this side of Cork) and the hours she spent cutting up cucumbers to be pickled, I was thankful that all I’d had to do was pick up the phone and place the prosecco order! Well, I was also in charge of procuring the ice bucket, cups and ice runs. And don’t forget, I did have to pour those heavy magnums!

Eatlikeagirl's homemade Irish soda bread

Frank's smoked salmon

Seriously, it was sooo much fun! I love meeting the public and it was great to talk shop with people who are genuinely interested in what you’ve got on the table. Not to mention the fabulously tasty smoked salmon. It was a perfect partner for the prosecco. I love smoked salmon anyway but Frank Hederman is a magician. I don’t know how he does it but he manages to smoke the salmon in such a way that it’s unlike any other smoked salmon I’ve ever had. The flavour of the salmon was so intense, it was like smoked salmon on steroids and none of that oilyness that is so often sadly a hallmark of poorly smoked salmon. It was as if he somehow squeezed all the excess oil out of the salmon and just left essense of salmon. It was that good!

Roberto, The Girl & The Sleuth

And the prosecco was the perfect companion. Bisol’sJeio is a light and fruity, lovely apples and pears on the nose and palate but not overly sweet, the bubbles just sweeping away the salmon and leaving my mouth ready for another salmon bite (that’s all we had time for, what with either serving up the salmon or dodging the rain, trying to make sure my laptop didn’t get wet). I really like the Jeio, it’s such an easy drinker and the alcohol content, at 11.5% makes it easy on the head the next day. As Roberto says, prosecco is a 24/7 kind of drink! Whilst I’m on the subject, a big thanks to Roberto Cremonese from Bisol. He came out to lend us a hand with serving and got all the Italians passing by to buy some salmon – great job, Roberto! And, of course BibendumDan who helped us get the prosecco to the Market in time, otherwise we would have been serving rainwater.

We did get rained on or rather deluged on! It was non-stop from 5:15 onwards. I know because I was out getting the ice! Somehow that didn’t stop people making quick dashes to our stall in between the brief rain let ups and at the “after party” (basically me, The Girl, and 2 friends) we congratulated our successful and fun day with a bottle or 3 of leftover prosecco in the portico of Covent Garden. I can’t wait til we do it again and next time I’m bringing my umbrella because like the Irish, I too, am not impermeable!

a soggy end to a great day!

All photos courtesy of Eatlikeagirl. Niahm will also be posting her recipes for Irish Soda Bread and Cucumber Pickles in the next few days so be sure to check back on her site.